Media Reviews

NPR The Resisters, like a lot of dystopian fiction, is primarily plot-driven and its appeal rests on its ingenuity, which is unflagging...[W]ith her characteristic generosity and restrained optimism, Jen doesn't scold or despair. In The Resisters, she offers hope that, after a long, misbegotten seventh-inning stretch, Americans of the near future will be eager to once again play ball and take up the hard work of participatory democracy.

New York Times The Resisters is a book that grows directly out of the soil of our current political moment, and much of the book’s unsettling pleasure lies in Jen’s ingenious extrapolation (or, in some cases, redescription) of contemporary problems...Jen has such a gifted ear for the manipulative languages of tech, marketing and government that at times the sheer abundance of clever details threatens to overwhelm the stories of her characters.

Washington Post Written in Jen’s clear, assured style and delivered from Grant’s slyly ironic perspective, The Resisters will captivate readers. Rippling with action, suspense and lovingly detailed baseball play-by-plays, there’s a sense throughout the book of both celebration and danger. There are a few plot point workarounds to maintain Grant’s first-person perspective — including an overly convenient listening device. But the story retains its intimacy and human generosity, even as it’s told against a backdrop of dreadful things to come.

Entertainment Weekly [Gish Jen] has long had a feel for sweeping, subversive explorations of American life...As Jen reveals how America became AutoAmerica, one seemingly tiny but cumulatively fatal development at a time, she finds in baseball a compelling metaphor for a country that will always have something to prove.

Publishers Weekly While some of Jen's fans might miss the overt humor of her previous work, her intelligence and control shine through in a chilling portrait of the casual acceptance of totalitarianism.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review) The juxtaposition of America's pastime and the AI-enabled surveillance state Jen presents here is brilliant...Beautifully crafted and slyly unsettling.

Booklist (starred review) In this astutely realized and unnervingly possible depiction of a near-future world, Jen masterfully entwines shrewd mischief, knowing compassion, and profound social critique in a suspenseful tale encompassing baseball ardor, family love, newly insidious forms of racism and tyranny, and a wily and righteous resistance movement that declares 'RIGHT MAKES MIGHT.'

Library Journal (starred review) Though her talent and aplomb win out in a satisfying conclusion, Gwen struggles with the inequality and oppression of AutoAmerica, and readers will be left wondering whether we are living in such a culture today. Highly recommended for discerning readers.

 Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House The Resisters is palpably loving, smart, funny and desperately unsettling. The novel should be required reading for the country, both as a cautionary tale and because it is a stone-cold masterpiece. This is Gish Jen's moment. She has pitched a perfect game.

 Stephen King, author of The Institute An absolute joy...I finished The Resisters with a tear in my eye and a smile on my face...Gish Jen has written a one-of-a-kind book with great characters—especially Eleanor, who is the heart of the story—and a warm heart.

 Allegra Goodman, author of The Chalk Artist Inventive, funny, and tender, The Resisters is about family, baseball, and the future—but more than anything, it is about freedom, and it is about us—here, now.

 Jean Kwok, author of Searching for Sylvie Lee Brilliant...A heartbreaking novel with the sensitivity, emotional range, and prophetic power of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

Reader Reviews

Books with similar themes

• Speculative, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Alt. History
  
• USA
  
• The Future
  
• Parenting & Families (fiction & nonfiction)
  
• Asian Writers
  
• Strong Female Leads